Even if there was a need for a defender in January, with Lille’s Gabriel reportedly looked at, Everton’s dire need was in midfield.
Injuries to Jean-Philippe Gbamin and André Gomes have hindered their numbers, meaning they’ve had Morgan Schneiderlin, Tom Davies, Fabian Delph and Gylfi Sigurdsson vying for two or three starting spots depending on the formation played.
Not exactly a wealth of talented options, which is why it wasn’t really surprising to see Everton linked with every midfielder capable of breathing adequately in January.
Among those was Allan, who played under Carlo Ancelotti at Napoli, but the cost of the transfer midway through the season would have been a bit high, meaning a summer assault, following another likely Uzmanov cash injection, makes more sense.
He said: “Maybe Lozano is really a good player, but he’s been misused: he knows how to dribble, but I don’t think he’s worth the €50m spent. It would be right to give him a chance next season, otherwise send him on loan in Italy to find himself.
“That is unless Ancelotti also enquires about him for Everton after asking about Allan and Zielinski.”
It seems the Italian manager is keen to reunite with a couple of his former pupils, even if recent reports suggest they might not be as eager as he is to do so.
